90 Percent of Cybersecurity Professionals Work on Vacation and Deal with Frequent Interruptions to Daily Life

Overwhelming majority of survey respondents said they check email, Slack and other forms of work communication even when on vacation.

Cybersecurity professionals continue to be pressured by work-life balance compromises, according to results of a recent poll* conducted by Centripetal, the global leader in intelligence powered cybersecurity.
Key findings included:
90% of cyber pros reported that they checked email, Slack and other forms of communication when they were on vacation
Almost a third (32%) have their lives interrupted by work every night
70% are interrupted at least once a week
Almost a fifth (18%) of security professionals are working over a full day’s worth of unpaid overtime (8+ hours) a week
What’s driving the long hours? Loyalty to the company is the reason why almost half (46%) of security professionals work these long hours. Just under a quarter (23%) said increased cyberthreats were the reason. Another 16% suggested inadequate staffing, with one in ten claiming they were the only one who could do the job.
“Cybersecurity is an industry where threats develop at breakneck speed, and those of us working in the industry are responsible for ensuring that these threats are responded to and mitigated on behalf of our organizations,” advised Jess Parnell, CISO at Centripetal. “It’s important that cybersecurity teams foster a culture where employees are able to switch off without feeling guilty or under pressure. By taking some of the day-to-day security analysis out of the hands of overworked employees, it’s crucial for organizations to implement adequate tools and solutions, and create a culture where IT professionals are supported.”
*Survey was conducted with more than 200 security professionals at the recent InfoSec World conference and cybersecurity events in the UK and Ireland.

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